It is inevitable to draw comparisons with times past when a great jewel lands on the ATP circuit. The presence of Carlos Alcaraz It generates an impressive interest in all areas that surround the sport of racket: we have rarely seen, especially in recent decades, a great player who takes the noble part of the circuit by surprise and does not cower in tournament finals more important. The Murcian accumulates four wins in four grand finals and that has made the great experts set their sights on it, trying to contextualize and stick to some template to explain its early success.
In those we are and so he recognizes it Paul Annaconecurrent coach of Taylor Fritz and former coach of many legends of this sport (Roger Federer o Pete Sampras among others). His opinion is one of the most authoritative to talk about someone who evokes very important players, especially when Paul himself has dealt closely with several of them. In a few words with The New York Times, Annacone made it very clear that, according to him, Alcaraz shares more similarities with his Swiss maestro than with the Balearic one, giving various reasons why the one from El Palmar may be reminiscent of the one from Basel in certain tennis aspects.
“I think that Alcaraz looks much more like Roger than Rafa. Rafa couldn’t take the ball that early and at one point when he was 19 years old, Rafa couldn’t get ahead on the court like that. Roger always tried to stay on the baseline and made it look like he always had time to hit the ball, and that’s how Carlos is seen too.”, says someone who has closely followed the career of the two geniuses. Quite a few articles have been read about these comparisons, and there is the inevitable comparison with Nadal due to the fact that he is the spearhead of Spanish tennis, but the former coach of the Swiss has no doubts in stating that, on a stylistic level, Federer and Carlos share many more aspects between them.
“HE IS THE MOST COMPLETE 19-YEAR-OLD PLAYER I’VE EVER SEEN”
Moving away from comparisons does not in the least reduce the expectations and pressure that can be placed on Carlos’ shoulders. In this sense, quite the opposite: Annacone makes it very clear that what Alcaraz demonstrates at his age is something practically unprecedented in the world of tennis, something that had rarely been seen before. “Alcaraz is the most complete 19-year-old I can remember. What’s really interesting to me is to see someone with that athletic ability, who has his sprint, jump, explosiveness and flexibility, but at the same time is able to have the hand-eye coordination to pick up the ball early, step forward and volley, plus he can step back and change pace. can do it all“says Annacone with conviction, who joins the long list of former players and coaches who have been quick to praise the new Indian Wells champion.
